I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

Chapter 239 Overbearing Demand! Shen Nian: Supports Installment Payment for the Tuman Tribe
It was the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, around noon.

At the Beizhenfusi Yamen, more than ten Jinyiwei centurions stood solemnly outside the main hall, awaiting orders.

Officials from various government offices waited anxiously in the hall.

If everyone's guesses are true, the assassination case will soon be solved; if they are not true, then this year is destined to be a bad one.

at this time.

Lu Hai, a commander of the Imperial Guard, ran in from outside, panting heavily.

"It's done...it's done! The assassins in the southern suburbs have all been captured, and the murder weapon has been found. Those barbarians were after Grand Secretary Zhang!"

Upon hearing this, all the officials and clerks in the hall instantly became excited.

"Is Grand Secretary Zhang unharmed?" Shen Shixing asked as he approached.

"No, no, with our Embroidered Uniform Guard here, they can't get close to Grand Secretary Zhang at all!" Lü Hai replied.

At that moment, Cao Wei also straightened his chest.

He strode to the door and shouted, "All officers, listen to my orders! Proceed according to the plan laid out this morning. Bind all members of the Siamese delegation at the South Meeting Hall and search all their belongings. Arrest all the suspected assassins and their accomplices we have found in the past three days and imprison them in the Imperial Prison. Try to capture them alive. Anyone who fights to the death may be executed. Set off immediately!"

"Yes!" the officers replied in unison.

They were all determined to show no mercy to these foreigners.

……

Half an hour later.

The garrison commander Cao Wei went to the Forbidden City to report the case to Emperor Wanli.

Wang Xijue, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Shen Nian arrived at the Nanhuiguan, the courtyard where the Siamese delegation was staying.

At this moment, all thirty-two members of the Siamese delegation were stripped of their outer garments, bound hand and foot, and left in the courtyard with their mouths gagged with cloth strips.

Everyone was stunned.

Hundreds of Imperial Guards stormed in without explanation, kidnapped people, and beat those who resisted until they dared not fight back.

Then the Imperial Guards began ransacking the house, throwing their clothes and goods outside like garbage.

When Rama and his deputy Damosa of the Siamese delegation saw Wang Xijue and Shen Nian, they couldn't help but twist their bodies wildly and make a "buzzing" sound.

At this moment, neither of them realized that their plan had been exposed.

Even if their accomplices fail to assassinate Zhang Juzheng today, Damossa is certain that they will not be implicated.

immediately.

Wang Xijue ordered the Imperial Guards to remove the gags from the two men's mouths.

"Minister Wang, Minister Shen, what... what does this mean? We've traveled thousands of miles to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and this is how you treat our friendly nation?" Rama said, his eyes wide with anger.

He really thought of himself as a special envoy of the Siamese mission.

Wang Xijue and Shen Nian ignored him and instead looked at Damossa to the side.

"Damosa, you must be a barbarian. You led a group of Siamese merchants, impersonating a Siamese delegation, and first killed Baji, the special envoy of our mortal enemy, the Anda tribe. Now you want both my Great Ming's money and my people. What a clever scheme!"

Upon hearing this, Rama and the group behind him turned deathly pale.

Damosa's eyes darted around, and he said, "Minister Wang, I... I don't understand what you're saying?"

"Hmph!" Wang Xijue snorted coldly.

Just then, a member of the Imperial Guards carrying a scroll and another carrying a belt approached Wang Xijue and Shen Nian.

The murder weapon has been found!

Swish!Swish!
Two sharp blades, slightly shorter than chopsticks and thicker at one end than the other, were pulled out from the scroll and the belt, respectively.

At that moment, Damossa collapsed to the ground, his eyes dimming.

Pretending to be confused at this point is pointless.

"How...how...how did you figure that out?"

Shen Nian sneered and said, "In terms of combat strength, you are no good, and in terms of intelligence, you are even worse. Who gave you the courage to plot and scheme within the territory of my Great Ming!"

Wang Xijue looked at the Imperial Guards beside him and said, "After you've cleared out the items, take them all to the Imperial Prison as well!"

"Yes!" a Jinyiwei commander replied, bowing.

The Nanhuitongguan was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites. Only after Wang Xijue handed them over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard could they be taken to the Imperial Prison.

After a while.

Wang Xijue and Shen Nian walked out of the Siamese delegation's courtyard, preparing to return to the Hanlin Academy.

Mao Liangda, the special envoy of the Ryukyu delegation, walked over quickly, but before he reached the two men, he collapsed to the ground.

"My lords, I...I...I just wanted to sell some personal goods, and...it doesn't harm the interests of the Ming Dynasty. Besides, it was...it was Rama who instigated me to hide some books of the Ming Dynasty in my personal luggage. I...I haven't even started doing it yet, surely you won't ban us again!"

"Please spare me this time! Just don't stop Ryukyu's annual tribute to the Ming Dynasty, or else... or else I... my family and I will die a terrible death!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xijue and Shen Nian immediately understood that Mao Liangda mistakenly believed that the Siamese delegation had been surrounded by the Embroidered Uniform Guard because they had violated the rules of the Ming Dynasty by smuggling goods.

Shen Nian smiled and helped Mao Liangda up.

"As long as you don't harm the interests of my Great Ming, you are a friend of my Great Ming. It's only right that you, who have traveled across the ocean to come here, make some money on the side."

After saying that, Wang Xijue and Shen Nian strode away.

The Ming Dynasty has always turned a blind eye to the Ryukyu delegation's smuggling and profiteering.

As long as they don't harm the interests of the Ming Dynasty, how many legal goods they can smuggle and how much money they can make during a trip to the Ming Dynasty depends entirely on their abilities.

After a while.

An official from the Ministry of Rites informed the Siamese delegation that it was actually a fake mission.

Mao Liangda looked surprised, but quickly straightened his back and said disdainfully, "No wonder you love money so much. You're just a merchant in disguise. What kind of person are you? You even dare to claim that you're going to help this special envoy make money!"

After saying that, he dusted off the dirt on his body, raised his head, and walked towards the courtyard where his delegation was staying.

……

On that day, the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrested more than a hundred people in and around the capital.

There were Tumans, Siamese, and more than thirty Ming people.

More than thirty Ming Dynasty officials provided intelligence to the local barbarians for money, revealing Zhang Juzheng's whereabouts, and will certainly be sentenced to death.

Night falls, at the Northern Garrison Prison.

There were screams.

During this period, the Embroidered Uniform Guard's reputation had been trampled on by this group of assassins, and now that they had almost wiped them out, they naturally wouldn't be polite to them.

The Imperial Guards were always lawless when investigating cases.

If Cao Wei couldn't get all these people to confess within one night, he would definitely skin the Jinyiwei officers in charge of the interrogation alive first.

……

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, in the afternoon.

Cao Wei, the garrison commander of the Northern Garrison, presented the investigation file of this assassination case to the young Wanli Emperor.

It was almost exactly the same as what the Three Law Offices, Shen Nian, and others had guessed.

The mastermind behind this group was Liku, also known as Damosa, from the Tuman tribe.

He ordered his local spies to kill the entire Siamese delegation in the southern border, and then hired a group of Siamese smugglers at a high price to impersonate them.

Its purpose was threefold. First, to kill Baji of the Anda tribe, thus preventing the cooperation between the Ming Dynasty and the Anda tribe from being achieved.

Secondly, the killing of Zhang Juzheng, the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, caused a corner of the Ming Dynasty to collapse, and chaos broke out in both the court and the northern border.

Thirdly, if a good opportunity arises, the young Wanli Emperor should be killed, leaving the Ming Dynasty without a ruler and the court in chaos.

The plan of the Leku (i.e., Damossa) was extremely crazy.

He believed that as long as he could get the fake Siamese delegation into the capital, he could easily kill Baji. Then he would find an opportunity to kill Zhang Juzheng. If he could get rid of Zhang Juzheng, he would have a chance to get close to the young Wanli Emperor at the New Year's Day court assembly or lunch banquet. He would then assassinate the young Wanli Emperor in a life-for-life exchange.

After reviewing the case file, Emperor Wanli immediately ordered the Shuntian Prefecture to post a notice to publicize the results, so as to prevent the people from continuing to panic and affecting the festive atmosphere.

The people of the capital were furious after reading the proclamation.

Some people hoped that the imperial court could behead all these people before the end of the year.

Some people hoped that the court would send these people to the northern border to be executed, in order to enhance the prestige of the country.

Some people also hoped that the imperial court would immediately send troops to completely wipe out the Tuman tribes...

Near dusk.

Shen Nian received a notice that a court assembly would be held early tomorrow morning, which would be the last regular court assembly of the year.

……

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, civil and military officials gathered at the Huangji Gate.

After the official on duty at the Office of Transmission read aloud several memorials concerning the nationwide land survey, the performance evaluation of officials, and the achievements in river management, the young Wanli Emperor posed a question.

How should the Tuman people and Siamese merchants be convicted?
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, anyone who assassinates a high-ranking official of the court shall be sentenced to death, his entire family shall be enslaved, and all members of his three clans shall be exiled two thousand li away.

But these people had no ties to the Ming Dynasty.

Sentencing them to death is far too lenient a punishment and insufficient to deter others.

“Your Majesty, I believe that the Siamese merchants should be sent to the southern coast, and the Tuman people should be sent to the neighboring Tuman tribes in the north for public execution by slow slicing, so that the smugglers at sea and the Tuman tribes will know the consequences of offending our Great Ming!” An official from the Ministry of War stepped forward and said.

"Your Majesty, I believe that in addition to the punishment of slow slicing, we should also impose trade sanctions on the smugglers in the southern border and the barbarian tribes in the northern border. Only in this way can they feel the pain and understand that our Great Ming Dynasty is absolutely not to be trifled with!"

"Your Majesty, I believe we should send the Siamese merchants to Siam and the Tuman people to their tribes. Then, under our supervision, Siam and the Tuman tribes can execute these people. This way, we can not only enhance our national prestige but also slap the face of Siam and the Tuman tribes. They will know they are in the wrong and will certainly not dare to disobey our wishes!"

……

The officials were agitated and each proposed their own punishment.

At this moment, Yin Zhengmao slowly stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, this old minister believes that everyone's punishments were too lenient. Our dynasty may feel a little better, but we won't gain any real benefit. It's not a worthwhile deal!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Yin Zhengmao.

The young Wanli Emperor sat up straight excitedly and said, "Grand Secretary Yin, please tell me your thoughts."

Yin Zhengmao declared loudly, “First of all, it is imperative to execute these people. I suggest that the Siamese merchants be killed in the capital. They have no country or people in their hearts and do not recognize Siam at all. Siam itself is also a victim. The court should issue an edict to appease them. After they know the truth, they will definitely clean up their own smuggling merchants. As for those barbarians, I suggest that they be sent to Anda’s tribe. Anda will definitely use cruel torture on them, making them wish they were dead!”

Upon hearing this, the eyes of the young Wanli Emperor and the other officials lit up.

Although the Ming Dynasty is currently close to Altan Khan and far from the Tumans, once Altan Khan becomes the dominant figure among the Mongol Tatar tribes and the old Altan Khan dies, there is a high probability that turmoil will occur in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty.

Using this matter to incite conflict between the two tribes is indeed a wise strategy.

"Secondly, the Tuman tribe should apologize and pay compensation."

"The barbarians killed foreign envoys within the territory of our Great Ming, causing our Great Ming court to lose face; they killed dogs in front of the Confucian Temple, insulting the orthodoxy of our Confucianism; they killed eunuchs and threw them into the Jade River, further humiliating the Great Ming Emperor. Moreover, they even attempted to assassinate His Majesty and Grand Secretary Zhang. Such actions have caused us great harm, and we must apologize and pay compensation. Otherwise, we will not only impose comprehensive sanctions on them in trade, but also wage war against them. If war breaks out now, Anda will surely join the war to help us, and the barbarian tribes will certainly not dare to fight!"

"Based on my understanding of the Tuman tribe, I suggest that they pay a one-time compensation of 100,000 taels of silver, which can be offset by cattle, horse, sheep hides, and furs!"

Shen Nian looked around and found that all the officials were excited. Yin Zhengmao's solution sounded very satisfying.

"I second that! Such punishment is the only way to demonstrate the might of our great nation!" Wang Xijue spoke first.

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

……

Just as the officials were all standing up and seconding the motion, Shen Nian stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, I believe that Grand Secretary Yin's plan can be adjusted further!"

"How should we adjust it?" asked the young Wanli Emperor.

"I believe that 100,000 taels is too little; the Tuman tribes are perfectly capable of providing it. This compensation should be at least 500,000 taels!"

Upon hearing "500,000 taels," an official from the Court of State Ceremonial stepped forward.

“Your Majesty, Shen Youtang may not know much about the Tuman tribe. As a nomadic tribe, their silver reserves are at most twenty or thirty thousand taels. Their property mainly consists of livestock, furs, and a small amount of minerals. Asking them to come up with one hundred thousand taels is almost enough to kill them. If we set it at five hundred thousand taels of silver, they will probably really fight us to the death!”

“Shen Youtang, do you perhaps intend to wage war against the Tuman tribe? I recall that just a month ago, you submitted a memorial stating that during this period of new policy reforms, peace in the northern border is of paramount importance!” A censor said to Shen Nian.

Shen Nian ignored him and instead looked at the young Wanli, bowing once more.

“Your Majesty, I am aware of the current situation of the Tuman tribes, and I also know that they cannot produce 500,000 taels of silver. The reason I wish to demand 500,000 taels is not to start a war, but to seek a longer period of peace.”

“We can have them repay this 500,000 taels of silver in installments over five or ten years. As long as they agree to pay 500,000 taels of silver, we can promise to set up two or three markets for them. As long as they keep repaying, we will keep the markets open so that the poorest people can survive!”

"In this way, we will have dignity, obtain silver, and be able to stabilize the Tuman tribe and fight against other Tatar tribes. Currently, the Tuman tribe's total military strength can reach 50,000 men. If we directly demand 100,000 taels of silver without giving them any benefits, our relationship with them will become even worse, and they will plunder even more frantically in the future."

"As for whether the 500,000 taels of silver can be negotiated, it depends on who is more persuasive!"

……

In short, Shen Nian's meaning is: slap me, then give me a sweet treat.

Demanding 100,000 taels of silver directly from the other party may not be accepted.

However, if we demand 500,000 taels of silver in compensation from them, to be paid in multiple installments, and also offer them the opportunity to trade, the Tuman people might agree.

Because of the trade sanctions imposed by the Ming Dynasty, the Tuman people could only obtain high-priced grains from other tribes.

Trading with the Ming Dynasty was their only way to strengthen their tribe, which is why they always sought peace through war, forcing the Ming Dynasty to negotiate a peace treaty.

Paying 100,000 taels of silver a year would not be enough to wipe them out, but being constantly sanctioned by the Ming Dynasty's trade sanctions would be enough to make them swallowed up by other tribes.

After thinking for a moment, Yin Zhengmao said, "Your Majesty, this old minister thinks Shen Youtang's plan is better. We don't need 500,000 taels, but we can at least ask for 300,000 taels. Moreover, after the trade, the Tuman invasions will be greatly reduced, which will reduce our military expenses and also hinder the development of other Tatar tribes. We can give it a try!"

The young Wanli Emperor nodded slightly and looked at Zhang Juzheng, who had remained silent.

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beard, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, my bottom line is 400,000 taels of silver, and I cannot accept any less!"

Upon hearing this, the officials all bit their lips, almost bursting out laughing.

Zhang Juzheng's words were both earnest and endearing.

Some officials initially thought Shen Nianzhi's proposal was a bit too demanding, but they didn't expect Zhang Juzheng to have the same appetite.

Emperor Wanli sat up straight and said, "The Grand Secretary and Minister Shen dare to demand such a large amount of compensation, which truly shows their confidence in the strength of our dynasty. I think it is justifiable to demand compensation in this way. This time, I order Zhang Xueyan, Li Chengliang, Qi Jiguang, and Shen Maoxue to go and negotiate with the Tu barbarians!"

"If they are rude and fail to meet our requirements, beating them up won't affect the overall situation!" Xiao Wanli declared.

"Your Majesty is wise!" the ministers exclaimed in unison.

Shen Nian, who dislikes making empty promises, spoke very loudly this time.

He admired the powerful and domineering Ming Dynasty, and its courage to unite the emperor and his ministers in the face of external threats.

Although the Ming Dynasty suffered a somewhat humiliating assassination attempt, it also united the various government departments.

This is a blessing for the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)